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Governor Beshear on hand as LTADD unveils search and rescue drone fleet

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Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear appeared with area elected officials and members and officials with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District Wednesday to announce the acquisition of a regional fleet of advanced search and rescue drones that will enhance emergency response efforts across the eight-county district.

LTADD Executive Director Daniel London said the drone fleet was made possible by grant support and a public-private partnership with Lincoln National Bank, and is a first of its kind achievement for the AD district.

“No other organization can boast this fact,” London said. “We can put nine aerial drones in the air in an hour and a half or less at any location in this region for search and rescue. Just ask eastern Kentucky or western Kentucky how important that would be to save lives.”

Beshear said the area development districts are a great asset to Kentuckians for the multiple projects they are able to facilitate. Beshear said the state is sadly well-practiced when it comes to disaster response, referencing the western Kentucky tornadoes and eastern Kentucky flooding, but emergency personnel across the state have worked hard to continue improving preparedness.

‘“Regardless of the causes, we know that we are seeing more natural disasters hit Kentucky and other parts of the United States, and what that means is, together, we can work to be better prepared,” Beshear said. “We can look after every single one and say ‘what’s the next step and the next one and the next one?’”

During the press conference, Beshear also presented an area community with some funding from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

“Today I have a check for the City of Vine Grove for $76,770 to install and improve sidewalks, crosswalks, and lighting,” Beshear said.

The funding for the drones also allowed LTADD to purchase an emergency response vehicle and establish a community support team to assist during disaster responses.

LTADD celebrates progress at annual meeting

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The Lincoln Trail Area Development District looked back and looked forward during their January board meeting and annual meeting at the State Theater Wednesday.

During the board meeting, the board approved their officer slate for 2025, as read by nominating committee member LaRue County Judge/Executive Blake Durrett:

  • Chair, Marion County Judge/Executive David Daugherty 
  • First Vice Chair, Washington County Judge/Executive Timothy Graves 
  • Second Vice Chair, Hodgenville Mayor Jim Phelps 
  • Secretary, Becky Miller of Grayson County 
  • Treasurer, Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory

LTADD Executive Director Daniel London said during the annual meeting that during this past fiscal year nearly $184 million in grant or direct funding requests were made for district members, the Workforce program served 12,403 clients, and the Aging program served 195,000 meals. London said LTADDs annual budget expanded from $15 million in 2023 to $24 million in 2025, and the expanded funding means expanded offerings.

“We’re no longer the sleepy little AD that no one knows about,” London said. “We’re making big waves. We’re trailblazing, and if people in this region don’t know about us now, it’s because they’re under a rock. Thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of the staff, the board of directors, and the taxpayers for the funding and resources you provided to us, because we’re going to keep killing it for you each and every day.”

The Dorothy M. Dolle Memorial Award was presented to Patsy Allen, and the Palmer A. “Pete” Peterson Memorial Award was presented to Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory, who said one of the best values of LTADD is the people it brings together.

“I appreciate everybody in this room,” Gregory said. “I appreciate the friendships and the working relationships, and I think this is a special, special place, and it doesn’t matter if you’re Republican or Democrat. If you need something and the others have got it, then it’s available for everybody, and we’ve got to keep working that way because that’s how victory happens, so thank you all very much.”

Learn more about LTADD’s services and projects at www.ltadd.org.

Juvenile apprehended after alleged threat made at Bluegrass Middle School

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The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office responded to an alleged threat at Bluegrass Middle School Wednesday.

“An investigation was immediately initiated by the school resource deputy, quickly identifying the student that made the threat who will face consequences set forth in the Hardin County School’s Code of Acceptable Behavior along with juvenile court action,” said Hardin County Sheriff John Ward. 

The sheriff says parents should remind their children to act responsibly.

“We ask everyone to please stress to your children that a threat in no way can be considered a joke and will be dealt with appropriately,” Ward said.

The sheriff’s office says at no time were any students or staff at Bluegrass Middle School in any danger.

Hardin County Fiscal Court hosts first meeting of 2025

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The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their first meeting of the month Tuesday afternoon.

After being removed from the consent agenda for further discussion, the court approved the hiring of Johnathan Jessop as solid waste support coordinator. Magistrate Fred Clem said he was not against the person being hired but rather the position, as the duties of the position can be covered by other county personnel. Magistrate Kenny Saltsman said he agreed with Clem and said the creation of the position was part of why he voted against approving the current county budget.

“Things need to be revamped,” Saltsman said. “We have had an engineer now for around eight months, I believe, and the public works director’s job description has not been re-updated to do away with some of those things. I think it’s still in there just for fluff to make it look like there’s a lot for that job to be doing.”

Hardin County Judge/Executive Keith Taul said the position was budgeted for because currently other county personnel are covering the duties of the position, which in turn takes time away from their regular duties. Taul said the job fits what the county needs right now.

“Unless there’s a big change and we don’t have as many services or something happens in the county, I don’t know, right now we’re in a growth type of situation, so I don’t see our services decreasing any, so it bothers me that basically you guys don’t believe me,” Taul said.

During department reports, Hardin County Road Supervisor Dwight Morgan said the county Road Department in 2024 handled multiple projects, chip sealed about four miles on three roads, and paved about 32.7 miles on 28 roads.

Hardin County Planning Director Adam King said in 2024 the county approved 268 land use applications, 125 plats and 164 lots were approved, and 1,696 permits were issued including 137 construction permits for single-family dwellings.

“That is an increase from 2023 when we were at 113, and 112 in 2022,” King said. “Average square footage under roof reported to our office was 3,281, and it probably won’t come as a surprise to anybody but the average reported construction cost was over $290,000.”

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet January 28. The next Hardin County Town Hall Forum will be held in the fiscal court chambers at 5:30 p.m. on January 27.

Elizabethtown still seeing spike in development from BlueOval SK announcement

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Elizabethtown Planning and Development Director Joe Reverman recapped development in 2024 during a joint meeting of the Elizabethtown City Council and Elizabethtown Planning Commission Monday.

Reverman said the increase in development that came with the announcement of BlueOval SK can be clearly seen in the data.

“With the spike that you see there from 2022, 23, and 24, that three-year span, if you compare that to 2018, 19, and 20, which is kind of like your pre-BlueOval era, that’s about a 30 percent increase in the number of building permits that were issued after BlueOval,” Reverman said.

Reverman said major projects in the industrial park, the expansion of Baptist Health Hardin, and a spike in apartment complex construction has led to an increase in construction costs.

“You can see again that 2022 spike after the BlueOval announcement, and that represents about, if you look at 22, 23, and 24 again, compared to 2018, 19, and 20, that’s about a 250 percent increase in the cost of construction that we’ve seen over that three-year span,” Reverman said.

During his update, reverman said one of the biggest challenges the city will see is developing multiple types of housing. The development of multi-family housing like apartment complexes that has come since the BlueOval SK announcement is something the area had not seen before.

“There really was a change in the housing market post-recession in 2008 that really never hit our city just due to the size and kind of the steady nature that we were growing at,” Reverman said. “We were recession-proof, which was a good thing, but we never really saw the change in the housing market until we saw this big housing boom come after BlueOval in 2022.”

Reverman said goals in 2025 for Elizabethtown Planning and Development are improving residential development standards, developing a downtown master plan, and rolling out online permitting/licensing software. Learn more by visiting the Planning and Development page on the Elizabethtown city website.